1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to computer systems that can be expanded by the attachment of external input/output (I/O) devices that compliment and/or extend internal I/O device functions. Common "lap-top" computers typically have several internal I/O devices, such as floppy and hard disk drives, a display, and a keyboard. These and other personal computers further routinely permit the "adding-on" of external I/O devices. Expansion devices such as a co-processors and memory expansion memory boards (e.g., co-processors with extended RAM) may also be added-in. The CPU processing speed and overall system functionality can often be improved by such external I/O and expansion devices.
2. Description of Related Art
In the prior art, personal computer systems software had to be manually preconfigured before the start-up of a newly configured system to accept and work with add-on external I/O or expansion devices in a system. The preconfiguration was often a very technical procedure not easily understood or dealt with well by a typical user. The procedures usually focus on the manipulation of one or more bytes of memory that are writeable but not volatile, such as a battery backed-up memory (e.g., CMOS battery-backed RAM). The computer then reads these bytes, called configuration bytes, during a boot-up and initialization procedure commonly executed in the "BIOS" (for basic input/output system) ROM. The configuration bytes will thereafter inform various device drivers and the disk operating system (DOS) which actual I/O devices are to be used for disk, display, print output, keyboard input, etc. The factory, or often a computer dealer, will set the configuration bytes to reflect the I/O system actually installed or the one that is expected to be installed. Any later modifications by the user to the I/O system, such as the buying and attaching of a hard disk, may not work, unless the configuration bytes are re-written by the arcane prior art methods.
Because of their machine's portability, many users of lap-top computers only temporarily use certain external I/O and expansion devices. But the clumsy utilities provided by some systems suppliers used to update the configuration bytes must be run by the user each time the I/O system is changed. Otherwise, the add-in/add-on devices will not be recognized by the system. This manual intervention into the bowels of the computer's operating system can be very tedious and can require a high degree of technical skill to run such a utility. Many users do not have the experience to know that such a utility even exists. So it goes unused or misapplied. Therefore an automatic method of configuration byte updating that is compatible with currently available computer systems is needed.